Mark Boudreau
|affiliation = James Heller administration |rank = White House Chief of Staff |marital = Widower |spouse = Audrey Boudreau (wife) |others = James Heller (father-in-law) Richard Heller (brother-in-law) |status = Alive |seasons = |actor = Tate Donovan |firstseen = |lastseen = }} Mark Boudreau was the White House Chief of Staff under James Heller during Day 9, and the second husband of Heller's daughter, Audrey. After Jack Bauer resurfaced in London, Mark was the first to receive word that Bauer was in CIA custody from Station Chief Steve Navarro, but chose to keep this information confidential from Heller and the rest of his staff. Viewing Bauer as a threat to both his wife and the President, Boudreau secretly arranged to have Bauer clandestinely handed over to the Russian government by forging Heller's signature to authorize the exchange despite knowing that he could be charged with treason. It soon became evident that Bauer was only attempting to stop an imminent terrorist attack, and Boudreau was later forced to work with Bauer under Heller's orders when the latter agreed to surrender himself to Margot Al-Harazi. He was later blackmailed by Anatol Stolnavich to help capture Jack Bauer, giving up Jack's transmission signal so that the Russians could track him in exchange for Stolnavich's silence on the forged signature. Mark's activities earlier in the day eventually came to light, and President Heller had him arrested for treason. Biography During the three years following Audrey Raines' release from Chinese custody, Boudreau took care of her and later claimed that he was instrumental in helping her regain her mental faculties. The two developed a relationship and were soon married. During his run for , Audrey's father James Heller named Boudreau as his Chief of Staff, a position he retained after Heller was elected. Two years before Day 9, Al-Qaeda terrorist Mahmoud Al-Harazi was killed in a targeted drone strike on a meeting hall in Ghundi Kala. To ensure that the administration secured funding for the drone program, Boudreau concealed from the President the fact that twenty-three others, including six children, were also killed in the attack. Day 9 British summit Boudreau accompanied his wife and President Heller to London, England, where Heller was due to attend a summit with Alastair Davies regarding the lease on the U.S.'s Diego Garcia drone base in British territory. At 11:00am, Boudreau attended a briefing at the state residence with the President, General Coburn, and Ron Clark about Parliament's position on extending the lease. Coburn reported that the Chinese had dispatched a carrier wing to the Mediterranean for the first time, in their "Friendship Tour," which Boudreau argued was intended to intimidate the British into staying out of their territory. Heller likened the action to Theodore Roosevelt' Goodwill Tour in the early 1900s, but mistakenly said it had been Franklin Roosevelt. After the meeting ended, Boudreau told the President about his mistake, but Heller brushed him off with a laugh and told him not to worry about him. Minutes later, Clark handed Boudreau a phone call from the local CIA station chief Steve Navarro, reporting that they had just captured Jack Bauer at a factory in central London. Noting the timing of Jack reappearing, Boudreau concluded that Bauer intended to do harm to President Heller, and informed Navarro that he would be drawing up a formal order to transfer Jack to the station's Special Activities division for enhanced interrogation. After hanging up, Boudreau told Clark to keep the news confidential for the time being. After reviewing Bauer's file, Mark helped his wife Audrey get ready for a reception with the . Audrey asked about her father's slip in the briefing, but Mark assured her it was a common mistake, reminding her that he wasn't supposed to show symptoms for at least another year, and said that Heller was handling the stress better than he was. Clark knocked on the door to inform them that the car was waiting outside. Boudreau and Clark headed downstairs, while Clark informed him that Bauer's transfer had been approved. Boudreau asked Clark to make preparations to have Bauer covertly handed over to the Russian government. Telling him about how Audrey had been after returning from China, he insisted that it was the best option for her well-being, as well as for national security. Clark agreed, just before Audrey and the President arrived to enter their waiting motorcade. At the Foreign and Commonwealth Office reception, Boudreau and General Coburn called away the President to inform him that an American drone pilot had fired on an allied convoy in Afghanistan, killing two British officers. Afterward, at the residence, Boudreau tried to dissuade Heller from addressing Parliament in session about the incident, arguing they would be furious and unwilling to listen. Heller, intending to hand over Lieutenant Tanner to the British as a sign of goodwill, insisted that he could win over the lawmakers' opinion by speaking from the heart. Finally, Boudreau confessed that he didn't believe the President, in his current condition, was up to the challenge, but Heller was undeterred. In turn, Mark tried to convince Audrey to intervene, but she said that they only had to get her father through the trip. At her insistence, she and Mark held a debate preparation session, with Mark playing the part of the angry MP. Despite Heller's initial success, he soon slipped up, mentioning that there had been three casualties instead of four. Mark shouted at the President, chiding him for forgetting the men's names, and Heller turned to do some more preparations, but not before replying: Lieutenant Wilkins. Audrey, upset at Mark's behavior, left the room as well. At 1:20, Ron Clark brought Boudreau a drafted executive order to transfer Jack Bauer to Russian custody, and reminded him that the President himself would need to sign the document. As they were talking, Audrey arrived, and Mark dismissed Clark. Audrey criticized him for mistreating her father earlier, but Mark said he was simply being as harsh as the real Parliament would be, and begged her to convince the President to return home and work through back-channels to win the support they needed. Finally, Audrey relented, and left his office. Reviewing the executive order, Mark forged President Heller's signature on the final page. Despite Audrey's intervention, Heller resolved to address Parliament as planned. After arriving at the meeting hall, Mark asked Audrey why he had decided to go through with it after all, and she defended the decision. She told him that Mark needed to stop making decisions for both her and her father. Inside, Mark sat in attendance as Heller began his address, and was quickly shouted down by various MPs in the audience. Despite a shaky start, however, Heller managed to win over the crowd, concluding his address after twenty minutes to warm applause. As the speech ended, Boudreau stepped away to take a call from Steve Navarro, who had unsettling news: Jack Bauer had escaped, and now had taken hostages inside the U.S. Embassy. Furious, Boudreau finally was left with no choice but to tell Audrey and the President about Jack's presence in London. Surprised, Heller refused to take any action until he could speak to Bauer personally, and ordered Mark to make it happen. Boudreau listened on a conference call as Bauer explained his actions at the embassy: he was uploading data from Lt. Tanner's flight key to prove that the drone had been commandeered using a device that was now in the hands of Margot Al-Harazi. After the call ended, Boudreau flatly denied Bauer's claims, and explained that he had broken Chloe O'Brian, a member of Open Cell, out of CIA custody. The terrorist threat was a ploy, allowing Jack to upload classified information to Open Cell that would endanger American lives. Despite Audrey's insistence that Jack was telling the truth, Heller ultimately ordered the marines at the embassy to raid the communications room and stop the upload. In the hall, Audrey accused Boudreau of twisting the facts to pursue a personal agenda, and warned of the consequences if Jack was proven right. Drone attacks Minutes later, Jack's claims were corroborated by CIA agent Kate Morgan, who reported that she had found the override code used to hijack Tanner's drone. Boudreau watched as Heller ordered a drone recall worldwide, just before six of the drones, heavily armed RQ-29 Vanguards, lost contact with their pilots and fell under Al-Harazi's control. Realizing his grave error, Boudreau ordered that Jack be brought to the residence to meet with Heller, and admitted that he had misrepresented the facts due to his own feelings. In private, he apologized to Audrey for his mistake and for letting her father down; she forgave him, saying that Heller needed him now more than ever. Soon thereafter, Margot posted a video on the CIA interagency server outlining the drone strike that had killed her husband, and her demand that Heller be turned over to her within the next three hours. Heller was furious to realize that Boudreau had hidden the civilian casualties in the attack from him, but he countered that burdening the President with that knowledge would have distracted from his effort to continue the drone program. After Prime Minister Davies arrived, Boudreau and the others watched a live feed of a CIA raid on Margot's suspected hideout. The mansion turned out to be a trap, and Al-Harazi used one of her drones to destroy the building, killing four of the field operatives. With few options, President Heller authorized Jack Bauer to pursue a lead on one of Margot's associates on his own. Boudreau visited him before he left to give him an untraceable cell phone as he had requested. He then asked what Audrey and he had spoken about earlier, and said that was concerned about the effect Jack's return would have on her mental state. Jack assured him that, before long, he would either be dead or imprisoned, and then, lying, said that Audrey had told him Mark was a good man, and kind to her. While having a personal chat with Audrey, Mark received a call from Anatol Stolnavich, the Russian Deputy Foreign Minister in London. After expressing sympathy for the terrorist situation, Anatol asked about the status on the rendition order that Mark had forged. Boudreau replied that the order had been rescinded, but Anatol, reminding him of the severity of Bauer's crimes against Russia, insisted that he could not simply rescind such an order without explanation and demanded to know when the President would get in contact. Finally, Boudreau agreed to meet with the minister later and sort the matter out. Mark watched Davies address the nation about the imminent terrorist threat. Heller told him that Davies also knew of Heller's condition, and that he planned to issue his resignation once he returned to Washington. Mark agreed to set up the necessary meeting with the Vice President. Later, Mark met with Stolnavich outside the residence and told him that the President needed Bauer and he could not be turned over the Russia. Stolnavich then accused Boudreau of forging Heller's signature; Mark stalled him by saying that Bauer was currently unreachable, but given time he could help Stolnavich achieve justice for the murder of his friend Mikhail Novakovich. Despite his actions against Jack Bauer, Boudreau ended up working together with him when Heller made the decision to surrender to Margot Al-Harazi in order to prevent further drone attacks. Despite grave doubts, he agreed to help in allowing Heller to sneak away, providing Bauer with the Secret Service protocols for the day and calling a staff meeting to clear the hallways. He was later forced to reveal his actions to Audrey, who at first was greatly upset and stated that she would never trust him again, but seemed to relent once he explained that he hated making the decision, but it was what her father wanted, and he considered him one of the greatest men who ever lived. Boudreau was delighted to learn that Heller had actually survived the attack, but his action in signing the order to transfer Bauer to Russian custody continued to weigh heavily on him. Helping the Russians Boudreau connected a call from CIA agent Erik Ritter to President Heller (although Audrey initially lashed out at him). When Audrey attempted to apologize to him, he brought up his beliefs that Audrey still had feelings for Bauer, despite her pleas that she is committed to the promise of their marriage. Once she left their room, Boudreau called Anatol and gave him a code that he could use to track down Bauer's location. After learning that Bauer was en route to track down and retrieve the stolen defense override module, Boudreau attempted to call Anatol to stop the attack on Bauer, to no avail. Bauer eventually learned of Boudreau's involvement with the Russians, who were secretly working with Cheng Zhi after learning of Zhi's plot to precipitate a conflict between the United States and the People's Republic of China. He confronted Boudreau and Heller tried to arrest him for treason, but Jack instead suggested that Boudreau could be used to lead him to the Russians. With Boudreau's help, Bauer was able to locate Stolnavich, but Boudreau and Stolnavich became embroiled in a conflict after Stolnavich realized that Boudreau had led Bauer to his location. In the tussle, a shard of glass became embedded in Stolnavich's neck and he died of blood loss. After helping Bauer and Kate locate information on where to find Cheng Zhi in Stolnavich's compound, Boudreau was taken into holding on charges of treason as Heller, devastated by the loss of Audrey, prepared to head home on Air Force One. Ritter told Mark that he would be transported to a military jet to take him back to the United States to face trial. Boudreau asked if President Heller was okay, and Ritter answered with just the fact that the President was now on Air Force One. Ritter then left the holding cell, leaving Boudreau distraught not only his by unethical actions throughout the day, but also for the loss of the woman he loved. Personality and Traits While Boudreau is both loyal to Heller and his wife, Mark had a tendency to take matters into his own hands, often trying to make Heller's decisions for him despite only being his Chief of Staff. Believing that Heller's Alzheimer's was crippling his judgment to make crucial decisions as president, Boudreau took a more aggressive stance towards Heller, upsetting his wife despite trying to explain his actions. This trait would eventually prove to be his downfall from political power as he had forged Heller's signature on an executive order to have Bauer handed over to the Russian's despite knowing that it was an act of treason and would eventually lead to his arrest. Despite this flaw, Boudreau was still loyal to Heller throughout Day 9 and worked with Jack Bauer in spite of the latter's past relationship with his wife. Background information and notes *In the deleted scenes, Mark attempts to use Stolnavich's gun to keep Jack from going after Cheng to protect Audrey. However, Jack overpowers Mark and officially arrests him for treason on the President's order. In the show, Mark is merely shown in custody after the raid on Stolnavich's compound with his arrest not being depicted. Live appearances See also Category:Characters Category:Day 9 characters Category:Day 9 antagonists Category:Sino-American war crisis conspirators Category:U.S. government officials Category:White House Chiefs of Staff Category:Heller administration personnel Category:Living characters